Mental illness becomes a priority
Print Edition
China is promising better treatment for people with mental illness and an expansion of medical aid to more patients, many of whom have been neglected until the troubled turn troublemaker.
China had 4.3 million severely mentally impaired patients on official records at the end of 2014, more than 55 percent of them living in poverty.
A 2015-2020 plan for mental health work sets a goal of more than 80 percent of people with severe mental illnesses in “management” by 2020, with treatment covering at least 80 percent of schizophrenia cases.
Citing depression, autism and dementia as key targets, the document notes that depression treatment rate should rise by 50 percent by 2020, and eligible patients with economic difficulties will be financially supported.
To address a lack of mental health professionals, the plan encourages health institutes to set up psychology clinics and strengthen staff training, raising the projected number of doctors specializing in mental disorders to 40,000 by 2020.
“We’re extremely understaffed, and I have accepted virtually anyone rejected by other hospital sections, regardless of his or her background,” Li Wenxiu, vice head of a mental health hospital in Beijing, told reporters.
China currently has 1,650 professional mental health institutes, with over 20,000 physicians and 228,000 beds, meaning that the country has to double the number of mental health physicians in five years.
Due to inadequate treatment, economic difficulties and low awareness, many patients are confined or left to wander alone on the street.
One tragic example was the case of Wu Yuanhong, locked in a reinforced iron cage by his mother, with his legs shackled, for 11 years. Before that, Wu had beaten a 13-year-old boy to death after he was bullied.
“No mother wants to lock her child in a cage, but I couldn’t allow him to go out and hurt people again, could I? It’s the only way,” said Wang Muxiang, Wu’s mother. In 2013, Wu was freed and received treatment under a free medical aid policy.
“Patients with severe mental problems are usually hit by delusions when they cause bedlam or kill people. With proper treatment, such delusions will be reduced and even eliminated, thus they won’t kill,” said Lu Lin, head of the Peking University Sixth Hospital.
The plan also urges to exploring ways to prevent and treat mental illness in general while setting up rehab centers and a green channel to take in patients who are dangerous or have sparked incidents or crimes and give them treatment.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
